ABSTRACT
As Chapter 1 showed, the British aircraft industry had run into severe difficulties by the mid-1950s. By the end of the decade, these problems had only deepened. They derived partly from growing US dominance in the international civil aviation industry, but also from a reduction of government procurement of military manned aircraft due to the development of missiles. How did Harold Macmillan’s government attempt to overcome these difficulties? This chapter shows how Aubrey Jones, the British Minister of Supply, reorganised and rationalised the domestic aircraft industry. Duncan Sandys also introduced government launch aid in order to boost British military and civil projects (the TSR-2 and VC10). Through these projects, the Macmillan government aimed to rebuild the aircraft industry with a view to the 1960s. This constituted a concerted attempt to maintain an independent defence industrial base for the British Empire, even in the wake of the Suez Crisis.
